Issues of Youth Problem

1
Issues of Youth Problem Gambling in Indiana
Katherine Wood, BA, Jennifer Kelley, MPH, CPP,
CHES, and Mary A. Lay, MPH, CHES, CPP
The Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program is
a project funded by the Division of Mental Health
Addiction to raise the awareness of problem
gambling and promote treatment options in
Indiana. This project is associated with the
Indiana Prevention Resource Center (IPRC), DMHA's
substance abuse prevention technical assistance
contractor. Our mission is to provide resources
and information to raise the awareness of problem
gambling in Indiana and to support the treatment
and prevention efforts of the state.

• To keep playing/stay in on the action or prove
  themselves
  
• To escape from stress and be in control
• For excitement and relief from boredom
• For social acceptance

• Increased delinquency and crime
• Disruption of familial relationships
• Decreased academic performance, higher truancy,
  poor grades
• Higher rates of depression
• Higher rates of suicidal ideation and suicide
  attempts

This poster session will review the youth
gambling behaviors data collected in Indiana. It
will discuss the activities being undertaken to
prevent the development of problem gambling among
youth and adolescents in Indiana. This poster
session will also highlight the activities of the
Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program and
report on the trends in data that is being
collected as part of this Initiative.

• Problem Gambling may be a gateway to substance
  abuse, depression, anxiety and other significant
  mental health disorders.
• Pathological Gambling is an impulse control
  disorder as is addiction. Youth found to have a
  greater need for sensation seeking are more
  likely to take risks and engage in gambling and
  substance abuse behaviors.
• Problem gambling and substance abuse behaviors
  share similar risk and protective factors.
• Winters and Anderson (2000) found3
• Found lifetime alcohol use a strong predictor
  for gambling
• Youth were 3x more likely to never have gambled
  if they have never used drugs
• Youth were 3.8x more likely to be a
  weekly/daily gambler if they were a weekly/daily
  user of drugs

Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness
Program Indiana Prevention Resource Center 2735
E. 10th Street, Room 110 Bloomington, IN
47408 www.ipgap.indiana.edu 812.855.1237 812.855.4
940 (fax) 800.346.3077 (toll free in Indiana)
1 Gassman, R., Jun, M. K., Samuel, S., Martin, E.
V., McCarthy-Jean, J. A., Lee, J., Kim, N.,
Konchada, S., Kondapuram, S. P., Morrison, A.,
Nautiyal, V., Pardue, N., Rayaprolu, S., Roby,
R., Wang, T., and Zhou, B. (2006). Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Other Drug Use by Indiana Children
and Adolescents The Indiana Prevention Resource
Center Survey 2006 (IDAP Monograph No. 06-01).
Bloomington, IN Indiana Prevention Resource
Center. 2 Wolf, J., Hutcherson, S. A., Peyton,
B. (2004). Gaming and Betting by 12 through 20
Year Olds in Indiana - 2004. Indiana University
Public Opinion Laboratory. Indianapolis, IN
Indiana University Purdue University,
Indianapolis. 2Winters and Anderson, Journal of
Gambling Studies, Vol. 16, No 2/3, 2000
The Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program
(IPGAP) is funded by the a contract with the
Indiana Family and Social Services
Administration, Division of Mental Health and
Addiction with funds through the Indiana Problem
Gamblers' Assistance Fund.